Fire insurance rating

Why is this important?

The Public Protection Classification is a nationwide system used by the Insurance Service Office to grade a community’s fire services on a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being the highest score. Rating is based on a number of factors, including training, staffing, number of fire stations, equipment dispatched to fires, equipment on trucks, fire prevention, investigation, fire safety education, construction code enforcement, hydrant maintenance, water supply, and the ability of the 9-1-1 call center to answer and dispatch calls.

Performance Analysis

Fort Worth’s Insurance Services Office (ISO) rating recently improved from a Class 2 rating to a Class 1 rating. Of the large cities in Texas, Houston, San Antonio, El Paso and Austin share this distinction. This rating measures the quality of a community’s fire services. Many top insurance groups use ISO ratings to determine property insurance rates, which means that improvements in the city’s ISO rating could lead to lower property insurance rates for property owners.